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SNAP elections?
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence
04 Sep 2024
šŸ–Øļø Print Article
Woman in grocery store

Pushing rattling shopping carts down supermarket aisles
They came up empty searching for okra, collard
Greens, and black-eyed peas. Hunting 50lb. bags of
Beans, rice— and tons of tortillas— Hecho de mano …

Rolling empty shopping carts down deserted ā€˜discount’
Market aisles, they came craving ice cream and fig bars—
Not Black Hawk Helicopters, Predator Drones and Hi-Mars!
They came for crackers and cheese—not an eradicated disease!

Pushing streamlined shopping carts down barren
Supermarket aisles they came looking to load
Paper towels and toilet tissue … Not 2,000 lb.
Bombs—                    busting babies and budgets!

Rolling empty shopping carts down ghostly ā€˜discount’
Market aisles— sticker shocked—Hellfire Missiles
$110,000 a pop! Frozen F-16s won’t fit in their freezers! And
Salads of shrapnel-shredded flesh of children aren’t appetizing …

Angry stomachs growling—faces questioning—
ā€œWhen will we see SNAP elections?
Elections of sticker-shocked/check writer blocked citizens
Receiving SNAP?

Elections of citizen crusaders wrestling price-gougers each
Month … And somehow surviving …          Citizen crusaders
Feeding gargantuan grandchildren—with mothers of all appetites—
As grifters drop MOAB: Mother Of All Bombs for murderous sport!

ā€œWhen will we see SNAP elections—with all their imperfections—
Electing citizen crusaders receiving SNAP? Firing bipartisan chefs
Shouting, ā€œAin’t nothin cookin here but hot Hunger; War; Fascism—
MAGAt-Microwave-style—or Democrat Crockpot-style: Order up!ā€

 

(SNAP refers to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

Ā© 2024. Raymond Nat Turner, The Town Crier. All Rights Reserved.

Raymond Nat Turner is a NYC poet; BAR's Poet-in-Residence; and founder/co-leader of the jazz-poetry ensemble UpSurge!NYC. You can Vote for his work at GoFundMe and PayPal.

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